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[Carolina-blue]

Here's a pic of my camp setup I constructed last night. As you can see I went the "drying rack" route to get me through Winter. My camp is closely surrounded by 4-5 rabbit holes, with another 5-7 rabbit holes like 1-2 screens away. With these drying racks, I can get so much jerky going (9 a day!) that I never struggled for food during winter. Plus if you didn't know jerky takes like 20 days to spoil, so nearby rabbit output + drying racks + jerky staying fresh longer than most food = a nice sustainable way to make it through Winter!


And here's a pic of my safe room on Day 34, I'm still trying to make it better. Only have two tooth traps right now, and hounds will still get to me, but at least they're single file and I can funnel them/take them on one at a time. I saved it on day 37 (finally out of Winter!) & hopefully can continue to at least 50+ days!

Thanks to all the veterans posting tips in this thread. On my other playthroughs I had completely ignored the drying rack & heating stones until I heard about their benefits on here. It has helped immensely!!

 

[BloodMoney]

Impressive setup Carolina-blue

 

[Yoshichan]

Is the map random generated?

 

[WhirlwindMonk]

Here's a pic of my camp setup I constructed last night. As you can see I went the "drying rack" route to get me through Winter. My camp is closely surrounded by 4-5 rabbit holes, with another 5-7 rabbit holes like 1-2 screens away. With these drying racks, I can get so much jerky going (9 a day!) that I never struggled for food during winter. Plus if you didn't know jerky takes like 20 days to spoil, so nearby rabbit output + drying racks + jerky staying fresh longer than most food = a nice sustainable way to make it through Winter!

Very cool, nice job! One thing you may not be aware of is that food only begins to spoil once you "harvest" it, so if you leave the jerky on the rack/food in the crockpot/vegetables in the garden until you need it, they last forever.

 

[_hekk05]

Very cool, nice job! One thing you may not be aware of is that food only begins to spoil once you "harvest" it, so if you leave the jerky on the rack/food in the crockpot/vegetables in the garden until you need it, they last forever.

Even better: you can use manure to fertilise a crop from sapling until it bears fruit to get food fast.

Food also spoil slower in winter, so stock up on those veggies!

 

[ThisOne]

Is the map random generated?

Yep. Sometimes you get lucky and there will be tons of good places to set up a nice camp.

 

[Carolina-blue]

Impressive setup Carolina-blue

Thanks, I'm sure I'm still doing a lot of stuff wrong or it could be done better, I'm just starting to learn some more of the intricacies.

Is the map random generated?

Yep, default settings too. I just got lucky. Although I still haven't seen any Beefalos so I have no farms/manure yet. I plan on doing that now that it turned summer finally!

Very cool, nice job! One thing you may not be aware of is that food only begins to spoil once you "harvest" it, so if you leave the jerky on the rack/food in the crockpot/vegetables in the garden until you need it, they last forever.

Even better: you can use manure to fertilise a crop from sapling until it bears fruit to get food fast.

Food also spoil slower in winter, so stock up on those veggies!

Wow, nice! I did not know that. I was harvesting everyday when it turned to jerky. It really wasn't a problem as I had soooo many rabbits coming in that I could fill the racks everyday if I wasn't doing anything else. But great tips guys!

 

[Korten]

I really appreciate how when you play it in Remote play, that it changes the control icons to the Vita. So it doesn't have R1 and L1, it says just R and L. Also when you go to the menu it shows the Vita (same with Killzone SF.)

 

[msdstc]

Ughh just had an awesome camp with a couple crock pots, drying racks, and a ton of bee boxes surrounded by berry bushes, beefalo, and spider nests, fully prepared to take on the winter, when the wolves attacked. I was low on health, and figured I'd lure them to the beefalos.... but they beefs attacked me outta nowhere. Not sure what happened. Not sure I can muster the motivation to start all over.

 

[Carolina-blue]

Ughh just had an awesome camp with a couple crock pots, drying racks, and a ton of bee boxes surrounded by berry bushes, beefalo, and spider nests, fully prepared to take on the winter, when the wolves attacked. I was low on health, and figured I'd lure them to the beefalos.... but they beefs attacked me outta nowhere. Not sure what happened. Not sure I can muster the motivation to start all over.

I feel your pain on playing long stretches, having a good setup, and then dying... It feels crushing. It takes a pretty good amount of time to get everything back up and running to where you semi-were (1-2 hrs).

 

[IAmRandom31]

Started a new game and run across a skeleton with a Walking Stick nearby. Never gotten one and equipped it. I run like I am on roads at all times now, freakin awesome! Already building up my base and utilized nearby " rocky " areas to build a nice rock floor to my upcoming base.

Only at day 2 and already have my Alchemy and Science machines built along with some equipment / supply chests. Will be working to build ip a farm soon. This machine character only takes maybe 6 carrots to refill back to full stomach. Should not be hard to keep it fed. Looking good!!!

 

[todahawk]

Maybe leave some supplies or crafted clothing neat a touchstone? Wouldn't that work?

I died from exposure after reviving at a touchstone too... excellent idea. you really have to think and plan ahead or at the very least learn from your deaths.

 

[Pestilence11]

Going into day 60 and the 3rd day of my 2nd winter. Almost died just before taking this screenshot.

Edit: Froze to death the next day trying to get back to my camp. I was drove out by 6 hounds lol

 

[Agent_Tiro]

Well I found out the hard way that you don't plant a meat bulb within your campsite. Off I went to go check my traps and collect the rabbits before resetting them come back to an army of eye plants occupying any free space within my campsite. Death was inevitable!

Lesson well and truly learnt

 

[Mobius 1]

Made it Day 34, which seemed to be the last day of winter snowfall. My camp was self sustaining and cozy. I had friendly pigs and beefalos nearby. An infinite supply of bunny meat.

But the screen started to shake and a fucking Deerclops comes stomping EVERYTHING in it's path. It destroyed half my camp as I watch in terror and scramble to get some resources before fleeing. But the monster follows. No matter how much distance I put between it and myself, it followed.

I lured it into a pig plantation, which was decimated. I then run way into the forest, hoping to light it on fire and burn the monster. The forest burned, the creature no so. Night falls, and I lure it into a cluster of spider dens. I run around in the dark with a flimsy torch trying not to end up under it's colossal hooves. When day breaks, I see scores of spider glands and silk strew around the landscape. But the monster still lived and gave chase. Finally I lured it into a marble camp where robots stood guard.

The Deerclops engaged the robots, and after a few minutes of struggle I gathered my wits and decided to join the struggle with a Tentable Spike. After much effort, the monster topples over.

In it's wake of destruction, metric tons of meat, metal and other useful things lay waiting for my use. But I can't - sanity went down completely and the shadow beings started to attack me. So I rush back to my destroyed camp hoping to light a proper fire and find a flower garland. There were none, and finally a Terrorbeak did what the Deerclops failed. Game over.

tl;dr: Fuck Deerclops and fuck this game.

 

[ixix]

For everyone who's died as a result of hypothermia after respawning, there's a trick you can use to keep yourself warm for a remarkably long time using nothing but grass and twigs. It's a little exploit-y, so whether or not you want to use it is up to you. This little trick makes it possible to almost guarantee survival from a touch stone revival with no preparation beyond taking a minute to mosey down to the stone and drop a stack each of grass and twigs next to it.

First, pick up your grass and twigs. Immediately craft a single Torch. Don't equip it, just store it in your inventory. Start moving toward your base camp. As soon as the ice crystals start showing up around the edges of the screen, stop moving and open the inventory to pause the game. Now perform the following steps in order:

1. Equip the Torch you constructed earlier. Just move it to your hand slot without exiting the menu; do not unpause the game yet.
2. Drop one tuft of grass or twig on the ground. You can also use anything else flammable if you prefer: logs, beefalo wool, whatever.
3. Close the inventory menu, thus unpausing the game.
4. Immediately press the "interact" button (not sure what this is on the PS4 controller) to set the item you just dropped on fire.
5. As soon as you've ignited the item you dropped open the inventory menu again and unequip your Torch. If you executed the maneuver perfectly it should have only lost 1% durability.
6. Move just far enough away from the now-burning item that it's not hurting you. If you're Willow just stand right on top of it because Willow is hardcore like that.
7. The item will burn to ash, warming you in the process. As soon as it burns out you can pick up the ash pile to add to your collection (you do have an ash collection, right?) and resume moving.
8. Repeat from step one the next time the ice crystals start to encroach on the screen.
9. As always, good luck.

 

[Llyrwenne]

Damn. I finally had some luck on a new file, but it sadly didn't last very long. Spawned next to a skeleton that had dropped a miner helmet. I was able to set up camp the first day in a great spot right next to some bees in between a huge bunny-field, a berry/tree/sapling/flower-field, a mining-field and a grass-farm ran by pigs with multiple Beefallos nearby. Got a full camp protected by a stone wall pretty quickly and easily survived several days. Then I decided to go shave the Beefallos one night and learned about Werepigs. ;(
Ah, well; learning something new every playthrough!

 

[Lucent]

Made it Day 34, which seemed to be the last day of winter snowfall. My camp was self sustaining and cozy. I had friendly pigs and beefalos nearby. An infinite supply of bunny meat.

But the screen started to shake and a fucking Deerclops comes stomping EVERYTHING in it's path. It destroyed half my camp as I watch in terror and scramble to get some resources before fleeing. But the monster follows. No matter how much distance I put between it and myself, it followed.

I lured it into a pig plantation, which was decimated. I then run way into the forest, hoping to light it on fire and burn the monster. The forest burned, the creature no so. Night falls, and I lure it into a cluster of spider dens. I run around in the dark with a flimsy torch trying not to end up under it's colossal hooves. When day breaks, I see scores of spider glands and silk strew around the landscape. But the monster still lived and gave chase. Finally I lured it into a marble camp where robots stood guard.

The Deerclops engaged the robots, and after a few minutes of struggle I gathered my wits and decided to join the struggle with a Tentable Spike. After much effort, the monster topples over.

In it's wake of destruction, metric tons of meat, metal and other useful things lay waiting for my use. But I can't - sanity went down completely and the shadow beings started to attack me. So I rush back to my destroyed camp hoping to light a proper fire and find a flower garland. There were none, and finally a Terrorbeak did what the Deerclops failed. Game over.

tl;dr: Fuck Deerclops and fuck this game.

Gotta admit, though, that's an awesome story. I love reading about what happened in everyone's playthroughs. I haven't seen a deerclops yet, but I'm guessing I almost ran into one once because I felt an earthquake on screen and I just ran. lol

 

[Grinchy]

Made it Day 34, which seemed to be the last day of winter snowfall. My camp was self sustaining and cozy. I had friendly pigs and beefalos nearby. An infinite supply of bunny meat.

But the screen started to shake and a fucking Deerclops comes stomping EVERYTHING in it's path. It destroyed half my camp as I watch in terror and scramble to get some resources before fleeing. But the monster follows. No matter how much distance I put between it and myself, it followed.

I lured it into a pig plantation, which was decimated. I then run way into the forest, hoping to light it on fire and burn the monster. The forest burned, the creature no so. Night falls, and I lure it into a cluster of spider dens. I run around in the dark with a flimsy torch trying not to end up under it's colossal hooves. When day breaks, I see scores of spider glands and silk strew around the landscape. But the monster still lived and gave chase. Finally I lured it into a marble camp where robots stood guard.

The Deerclops engaged the robots, and after a few minutes of struggle I gathered my wits and decided to join the struggle with a Tentable Spike. After much effort, the monster topples over.

In it's wake of destruction, metric tons of meat, metal and other useful things lay waiting for my use. But I can't - sanity went down completely and the shadow beings started to attack me. So I rush back to my destroyed camp hoping to light a proper fire and find a flower garland. There were none, and finally a Terrorbeak did what the Deerclops failed. Game over.

tl;dr: Fuck Deerclops and fuck this game.

Awesome story.

 

[Teletraan1]

Made it Day 34, which seemed to be the last day of winter snowfall. My camp was self sustaining and cozy. I had friendly pigs and beefalos nearby. An infinite supply of bunny meat.

But the screen started to shake and a fucking Deerclops comes stomping EVERYTHING in it's path. It destroyed half my camp as I watch in terror and scramble to get some resources before fleeing. But the monster follows. No matter how much distance I put between it and myself, it followed.

I lured it into a pig plantation, which was decimated. I then run way into the forest, hoping to light it on fire and burn the monster. The forest burned, the creature no so. Night falls, and I lure it into a cluster of spider dens. I run around in the dark with a flimsy torch trying not to end up under it's colossal hooves. When day breaks, I see scores of spider glands and silk strew around the landscape. But the monster still lived and gave chase. Finally I lured it into a marble camp where robots stood guard.

The Deerclops engaged the robots, and after a few minutes of struggle I gathered my wits and decided to join the struggle with a Tentable Spike. After much effort, the monster topples over.

In it's wake of destruction, metric tons of meat, metal and other useful things lay waiting for my use. But I can't - sanity went down completely and the shadow beings started to attack me. So I rush back to my destroyed camp hoping to light a proper fire and find a flower garland. There were none, and finally a Terrorbeak did what the Deerclops failed. Game over.

tl;dr: Fuck Deerclops and fuck this game.

Amazing. The tension during that must have been insane. At least it was a blaze of glory. I got to day 34 but was ill prepared for winter and it just whittled me down slowly all winter until I finally succumbed right before it was going to end. But those last few days were so satisfying to eek out.

 

[Concept17]

Well after reading that.. back to my last save.

 

[sangreal]

my camp/dump is not pretty at all but it gets the job done

winter was trivial and there is a beefalo herd nearby that deals with any hounds

 

[Trouble]

Made it my farthest yet, day 30. I thought I was reasonably set up for winter, but I didn't realize farms stop working >.<. Had some bunny traps nearby which kept me going for a while, but on day 29 no rabbits show up and I'm on the brink of starving. I decide to attack some penguins and go out fighting. I die instantly and get respawned, I had totally forgotten I found a touchstone on the first day. Almost freeze to death running back, get my stuff (and stole an egg, lol) and get back to fire just in the brink of time. Thankfully respawning via the touchstone sets your hunger to 2/3 so I make it through the night. Next morning I hit up my traps to get some meat and the hounds come and kill me instantly.

 

[ixix]

my camp/dump is not pretty at all but it gets the job done



winter was trivial

You're probably going to want to set up a lightning rod at some point, unless there's one lurking offscreen.

Though watching everything you've built get consumed by cleansing flame sparked from the vengeful fist of Zeus is pretty in-character for Willow, so. Conundrum.

 

[sangreal]

You're probably going to want to set up a lightning rod at some point, unless there's one lurking offscreen.

Though watching everything you've built get consumed by cleansing flame sparked from the vengeful fist of Zeus is pretty in-character for Willow, so. Conundrum.

Thanks, I thought about doing that, but I've never seen lightning be an issue so I kind of dismissed it. Will build one next time I play

Having this camp burn down would probably be a blessing though. Would give me something to do and I could try out all those fancy decoration items

 

[Bishop89]

I havnt played much of this game, only like 3-4 games. One question, wtf is that big invisible bug thing that keeps following u? I noticed I could attack it when I almost lost my mind

 

[Jintor]

I havnt played much of this game, only like 3-4 games. One question, wtf is that big invisible bug thing that keeps following u? I noticed I could attack it when I almost lost my mind

you're just going mad is all

 

[chicko1983]

I like this game a lot but have some questions for the more experienced players (I've only made it to about day 10):

- how do you keep a home base when all the resources are all over the place? Do you need a meat source nearby, or is grass and twigs more crucial for making a fire? I tend to just roam and make a fire each night where I am.
- once I get the science machine, what is the most important object to make? Rope, backpack, or something else?
- what's the deal with flowers? Is it better to forget about them or are some actually good for you. Same with mushrooms.
- how do I keep my mind state positive? This goes well before my hunger and heart.

I've probably have more questions but I think these are the more important ones to help me progress.

 

[daevv]

Is there a way to trigger winter to start by accident? I came across a chest, fridge, and a large thermometer looking thing. When I opened the fridge winter occured almost instantly. I was only on day 3 or 4 too. Penguins killed me a few days later...

 

[Jintor]

I like this game a lot but have some questions for the more experienced players (I've only made it to about day 10):

- how do you keep a home base when all the resources are all over the place? Do you need a meat source nearby, or is grass and twigs more crucial for making a fire? I tend to just roam and make a fire each night where I am.
- once I get the science machine, what is the most important object to make? Rope, backpack, or something else?
- what's the deal with flowers? Is it better to forget about them or are some actually good for you. Same with mushrooms.
- how do I keep my mind state positive? This goes well before my hunger and heart.

I've probably have more questions but I think these are the more important ones to help me progress.

1) Get a shovel, bring stuff back to base, fertilise it. You can replant twigs easy. Setting up near rabbits is a good idea though.
2) Backpack is a good option.
3) Flowers are most important imho for getting a honey production farm going, but you can make a garland if you want.
4) Sleep, eating good cooked food, prototyping stuff.

Is there a way to trigger winter to start by accident? I came across a chest, fridge, and a large thermometer looking thing. When I opened the fridge winter occured almost instantly. I was only on day 3 or 4 too. Penguins killed me a few days later...

Sounds like a random event, bad luck. I love the little setpieces in this game.

 

[chicko1983]

1) Get a shovel, bring stuff back to base, fertilise it. You can replant twigs easy. Setting up near rabbits is a good idea though.
2) Backpack is a good option.
3) Flowers are most important imho for getting a honey production farm going, but you can make a garland if you want.
4) Sleep, eating good cooked food, prototyping stuff.

Sleep! I've never slept!

Cheers for the advice, I will give it a shot later today.

 

[Jintor]

You need to make bedrolls and tents and stuff to sleep. Beware - you will take a substantial hunger hit.

 

[Gintoki313]

The pigs near my base finally respawned after dying, and they killed all the enemies around my base. Now my base is safe again.

I think I'm on day 17. Right now I'm trying to make a crock pot for better cooking since I'm getting some pretty good fruit/vegetables from my farms.

 

[PBY]

2 questions-

1- how are the console controls?
2- I hate games where it's one/done without persistence or progression. Is there something to aim for or build up to to keep me hooked?

Thx

 

[mstevens]

Wow... I found maxwell's door. These adventure modes are impossible. Hate when games leave characters behind such a hard "wall" like this. Never gonna happen for me.

 

[MMaRsu]

2 questions-

1- how are the console controls?
2- I hate games where it's one/done without persistence or progression. Is there something to aim for or build up to to keep me hooked?

Thx

1. Great
2. No

 

[Gaz_RB]

2 questions-

1- how are the console controls?
2- I hate games where it's one/done without persistence or progression. Is there something to aim for or build up to to keep me hooked?

Thx

The only progression is sort of meta. After every life you get xp that goes towards unlocking different characters. As for keeping what you build/the world...no. Permadeath.

 

[todahawk]

2 questions-

1- how are the console controls?
2- I hate games where it's one/done without persistence or progression. Is there something to aim for or build up to to keep me hooked?

Thx

re: 1- controls on console are fine.
re: 2- there is adventure mode but from what i've read here and elsewhere it's really hard. you activate adventure mode by finding Maxwell's door and entering it.

 

[Gintoki313]

I died on the 27th day. I was sitting at my campfire at night, when 2 random shadow bears (or whatever they were) started attacking my chest pet. I thought I should help it out, but died almost immediately. I had a football helmet and a log suit, but still died in a few hits. I was revived but died in a minute due to freezing. I was revived again, and once again died in a minute. I don't get the point of reviving if you die in literally a minute of freezing. I don't even have enough time to make a fire to even warm myself up.

27 days is my record right now. I guess that's pretty far since

Spoiler

Maxwell

started attacking me more each day. He even put out one of my fire's at night. I keep dying of freezing so I can't see myself getting any further in the game.

 

[HORRORSHØW]

Do people keep/maintain multiple camps? I feel like the first place I set up is adequate. It has plenty of bunnies, berries, and bees, as well as plenty of grass and trees. The Beefalo are quite a ways from my camp, though. I've also yet to see any Pig Men on this play through. I'm currently on Day 20, about to hit Winter.

 

[ixix]

Wow... I found maxwell's door. These adventure modes are impossible. Hate when games leave characters behind such a hard "wall" like this. Never gonna happen for me.

That's kinda how I felt the first time I tried Adventure Mode. Now it's my favorite part of the game. Don't give up; once you're able to finish it you'll be able to assert that you are Good At Don't Starve with no fear of contradiction.

I had multiple 100+ day Survival Mode games under my belt before I tackled it successfully for the first time. Adventure Mode is all about being efficient and having a strong grasp on the fundamentals. If there's a gap in your knowledge, chances are you're going to hit a scenario that will use that gap to murder you.

 

[Am_I_Evil]

made it to day 31 earlier today (continued from last night; god i wish the save game didn't auto delete when you eventually died)...finished unlocking all characters...played again with "Woodie" and made it to day 27...

fun game but now that everyone is unlocked and I'm no longer collecting XP it does seem a little less "important"

i guess maybe now i should focus on seeing what i can do in adventure mode...

 

[maxiell]

Norante's story was the best so far. It's amazing how good you guys are at this, there is no way I'm ever living long enough to have a story like that.

 

[Pimpwerx]

Ha, yeah it was easily 4 hours+. So easy to get sucked in though! I told myself I'd stop before Winter but then I couldn't pull myself away, I feared when I came back later I might mess it up so it was best to just power through Winter at the time? Reading other people's replies it seems like I fluked out by building a Heat Stone, Drying Racks and Stone Walls just before Winter hit! I do wish there was some kind of gate you could build though.

The winterometer is a good way to get a read on winter's approach. I built on last play through. Seems like a waste, but after I build farms, I usually have lots of free time and materials. What do stone walls have to do with winter, BTW? For the pengulls? PEACE.

 

[BadAss2961]

Is the point of this game just to survive? Or are there things to look for that progress the story?

 

[Bishop89]

I love this game. my gf just got to day 6 and still going strong. Beat my record of day 5...

 

[Pimpwerx]

Made it Day 34, which seemed to be the last day of winter snowfall. My camp was self sustaining and cozy. I had friendly pigs and beefalos nearby. An infinite supply of bunny meat.

But the screen started to shake and a fucking Deerclops comes stomping EVERYTHING in it's path. It destroyed half my camp as I watch in terror and scramble to get some resources before fleeing. But the monster follows. No matter how much distance I put between it and myself, it followed.

I lured it into a pig plantation, which was decimated. I then run way into the forest, hoping to light it on fire and burn the monster. The forest burned, the creature no so. Night falls, and I lure it into a cluster of spider dens. I run around in the dark with a flimsy torch trying not to end up under it's colossal hooves. When day breaks, I see scores of spider glands and silk strew around the landscape. But the monster still lived and gave chase. Finally I lured it into a marble camp where robots stood guard.

The Deerclops engaged the robots, and after a few minutes of struggle I gathered my wits and decided to join the struggle with a Tentable Spike. After much effort, the monster topples over.

In it's wake of destruction, metric tons of meat, metal and other useful things lay waiting for my use. But I can't - sanity went down completely and the shadow beings started to attack me. So I rush back to my destroyed camp hoping to light a proper fire and find a flower garland. There were none, and finally a Terrorbeak did what the Deerclops failed. Game over.

tl;dr: Fuck Deerclops and fuck this game.

Awesome! I had a tree guardian go all Gandolf on me. It was blocking my access to most of the map. He got mad because I cut down a tree...asshole. So after finding alternate routes of escape, I tried attacking with an axe then torch. No luck. Killed in instant. Fun timestimes though. I rarely die from the same thing twice. PEACE.

 

[IAmRandom31]

Holy shit I just started playing with The Lumberjack and am laughing my ass of. Was not expecting what his secret was lol.

Will make for some Very interesting playthroughs! I love the diversity of all the different characters you unlock. Each one feels completely different from the others with some having real nice perks like the chick with the lighter or this Lumberjack character.

 

[Jintor]

I died on the 27th day. I was sitting at my campfire at night, when 2 random shadow bears (or whatever they were) started attacking my chest pet. I thought I should help it out, but died almost immediately. I had a football helmet and a log suit, but still died in a few hits. I was revived but died in a minute due to freezing. I was revived again, and once again died in a minute. I don't get the point of reviving if you die in literally a minute of freezing. I don't even have enough time to make a fire to even warm myself up.

27 days is my record right now. I guess that's pretty far since

Spoiler

Maxwell

started attacking me more each day. He even put out one of my fire's at night. I keep dying of freezing so I can't see myself getting any further in the game.

Leave supplies around your respawn points.

 

[mstevens]

That's kinda how I felt the first time I tried Adventure Mode. Now it's my favorite part of the game. Don't give up; once you're able to finish it you'll be able to assert that you are Good At Don't Starve with no fear of contradiction.

I had multiple 100+ day Survival Mode games under my belt before I tackled it successfully for the first time. Adventure Mode is all about being efficient and having a strong grasp on the fundamentals. If there's a gap in your knowledge, chances are you're going to hit a scenario that will use that gap to murder you.

I just hate that there isn't really a good way to ease you into these things. If you hit a scenario, mess up, but then had a chance to do it again soon after, that would be fine.

The perma death makes you go through all the same mundane parts of the game to get to where you were before... then you get a little farther, die again, and go through all the mundane parts again.